CN Train

/ rothpoetry

When our boys were young, my wife’s parents took us to the mountains on our visits to Edmonton. We camped in the Canadian Rockies and watched the long freight trains wind their way through Hell’s Gate Canyon. I was always impressed with the way railroads were built along the winding rivers providing connections with Vancouver and Calgary. One that we watched coming through the mountains was the Canadian National or the CN train. A few years ago, I decided to paint a CN train coming though the mountains. I did it in color, but I really liked the effects of the black and white! Which one do you like best?

Freight train winds its way

Through Canadian Rockies

Summer and Winter

Paintings – Dwight L. Roth

69 thoughts on “CN Train”

  7. Beautifully done! I’m taken with both for different reasons. The b&w makes the train somehow benign & natural to the landscape; the color painting sets it apart, a powerful & intrusive force.

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  9. Wonderful paintings birth Dwight 👏

    It’s a truely amazing landscape for trains to be running through.

    I think the black and white one rhymes more with the nostalgia, and is timeless.

    Personally I like the color one more, as it explains the full setting and landscape clearly to me. And I think the grass is painted wonderfully, it seems to be alive 🙂

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    • I appreciate your assessment Deb. You are right about the landscape. Building trains through the mountains is quite a feat of engineering! The color on is the actual one as I remember it. Thank you!

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  11. Gosh, I don’t know. I saw the black and white and thought – that’s amazing – I love it! And then I saw the color and I thought – ooooh, I love it! And then I went back and looked at the B&W and then back at the color… and I really can’t decide!

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  12. Beautiful paintings and haiku AND memories!
    The B&W brings out so many great details…the colorful painting is bright an cheery. Can’t pick a fav! 🙂
    I have fond memories of all the trains I’ve had the privilege to ride on!
    (((HUGS))) 🙂

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  13. I really enjoyed reading your story, Dwight, what an outing you must have had. The name ‘Hell’s Gate’ is new to me. Interestingly we were a few who had planned to travel this route across the Canadian mountains, had everything planned out.
    I do definitely like the black/grey/white drawing best.

    Miriam

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  21. I found the detail of the painting actually showing up more vividly for me in b&w than I did in color, but I liked both. And your poem, too, but the teacher in me wants to erase the apostrophe! It was probably spellcheck that did that to you. You know that “it’s” means “it is” – Strange that when its means possession, it does not use the apostrophe. I always had trouble getting my students to understand that! It’s a contradiction to the rule!

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    • Oh, you are right. I missed that. That is one word when the apostrophe doesn’t show possessive! I do miss that on occasion! Thank you for letting me know. I really appreciate it. My wife usually catches those slip ups when she reads my posts, but we both missed it this time. A true friend will tell you when you make a mistake. Thanks Jan! I do like the detail in the B&W train.

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